Let the dead man catch up

[NerdHut]

Hi, all!

So in the last session of my campaign, I accidentally killed one of my players. Here's a quick run-down of how it went:
Me: "The Bulette does 64 damage to you."
Him: "I'm dead"
Me: "What? I thought you had more health than that." (he's the tank of the group)
Him: "Nope, just 49."
Me: "$#%!"

Luckily, I had plans for the first player death, and he's going to be resurrected in the next session. The problem is that he'll be a level and a half behind the rest of the group, and I need a way to fix that a bit. I don't want to just give him free XP, but I'm willing to give him the limelight and be a badass after his resurrection. I'm just not sure how to coordinate it.

Basically, the party is taking his body to a remote mountain temple and he'll come back when they get there. I figure the easiest way to bring him back up in XP is to throw a fight his way (but not kill him again). Anyone have suggestions for that? Because I'm pulling a bit of a blank.

[Malroth]

If this is 3.5 then the XP system is self correcting and he'll catch up and likely even pull ahead since he'll bet getting more xp per encounter than everybody else.

If pathfinder get a casting of restoration.

[NerdHut]

I should clarify, I guess. I understand that over time he'll catch up, but since his death is kind of my fault, I'd like to give him a headstart on regaining his XP.

[AvatarVecna]

Here's the thing: XP is a river. If he takes part in all the same fights as the rest of the party, he'll get more XP from those encounters than the rest of the party will, because he's a 9th lvl character facing a 12th lvl challenge instead of the 10th lvl characters facing a 12th lvl challenge that everyone else is playing. Tossing a few solo fights his way will let him catch up quicker, but he'll catch up regardless.

EDIT: As possible such encounters, maybe the journey from heaven back to his body isn't a peaceful route, but requires him to survive a short trip down the Styx? Or maybe be a bit more liberal than normal with roleplaying XP for the next few sessions in regards to him.

Ultimately, PC death is a risk in this game, especially when players go into fights they aren't ready for; the level penalty is there as a speed bump for players that would just throw their PCs into danger because there's no consequences otherwise.

[Pex]

1) You can try my old group's house rule. Upon being raised your XP is lowered to that of your previous level but retain everything that means to be the level your character was. No loss of class features, no loss of spell progression, no loss of hit points, feat, or skill points etc. The amount of XP needed to gain a level doesn't change. This way the character isn't weakened. The delayed gratification of gaining a new level is that cost associated with the ordeal of coming back from the dead. True Resurrection spell doesn't lower the XP.

2) Try Pathfinder's take. Retain everything that means to be your level, including XP. What you get is a "negative level". A negative level means -1 to all rolls and -5 hit points. A restoration spell can recover it, but only once per week. There are ways to get multiple negative levels. Greater Restoration spell recovers all negative levels.

[mabriss lethe]

You could, of course, change the nature of the resurrection at that particular temple (assuming that you haven't gotten something else going on there.)

-It's built on a site that more closely borders the realm of the dead. The monks and priests have developed a special ritual that negates the normal costs for being revived, but instead calls the spirit back for a chance to do battle against an avatar of death (a level appropriate encounter) alongside the rest of the party. if the party succeeds, then it's as if Revivify were cast on the body within 1 round death. (spell compendium) So no level loss that way and you can make it into another encounter to challenge the players. (if it feels too powerful, limit it to that location only, and make it so that a person may only ever be a subject to the ritual once. It gives every player a single potential freebie resurrection, but makes it somewhat inconvenient.)

[Kelb_Panthera]

How did he end up a level and a half behind the others? Do you expect them to go through half a dozen encounters between when the fellow died and getting the raise effect?

Just to be sure, you're aware that when you're raised, you come back at an XP total half-way between the level you died on and the level before that? E.G. If you died at level 7 then when you come back you're at 24,500xp with another 3500 to make it back to 7.

As for making it right, if you insist (I don't see the need, crap happens when dice are involved) then you have a couple options. The obvious choice is to give a one-time ressurection effect and negate the level loss. Alternately, give him a piece of gear, spec'ed for him, that's a tad more powerful than normal for his level.

Fun idea; incorporate the ghost rules from Ghostwalk and let him keep adventuring in-spite of being dead. :smalltongue:

[ksbsnowowl]

How did he end up a level and a half behind the others?
It's possible. If the party is 7th level, nearly 8th, and the fight with the Bulette didn't provide enough XP for the PC to level,* then he will have lost all the XP he earned nearly getting him to 8th, and then half the XP from getting to 7th. It's not quite a level and a half, but it could be pretty darn close.

* OP, remember that the dead PC gains a full share of the XP award for the fight that killed him. If the XP is sufficient to have reached the next level (8th in the example numbers used above), then the PC should return after being raised at the mid-point of 7th, and thus only lose out on a half a level of XP (or thereabouts). Correction, according to DMG p. 41, the XP is awarded after resurrection. Thus, the PC would lose a level and a half of XP, then gain the XP for the last fight.